Shrimp Embassy Siege
The Shrimp Embassy Siege took place from 30 April to 5 May 1959, after a group of six armed Lobster terrorists the Shrimp Embassy on 16 Crabby Gate in South Crabington, Gulf of Alaska. The Lobsters, members of the Lobster State of Alaska, took 15 hostages and demanded the release of Lobster prisoners from the prisons in the Bering Sea and their own safe passage out of Alaska. Background Motives The hostage-takers were members of the Lobster State of Alaska (LSA), Lobsters protesting for the establishment of a Lobster state in the southern region of the Bering Sea which is home to all kinds of Crustaceans. According to Clawson G. Lobster, suppression of the Lobster State movement was the spark that led his desire to attack the Shrimp Embassy in the Gulf of Alaska. Arrival in the Gulf of Alaska Using Lobster passports, Clawson and 2 other members of the LSA arrived in the Gulf of Alaska on 31 March 1959 and rented a flat in Crab's Court. The Lobsters claimed they were just friends on holiday. The Lobsters usually returned to the flat shouting, late at night, sometimes accompanied by more Lobsters. Within a week, the landlord asked them to leave. They soon found another flat, where they told their new landlord they were moving in because they had been joined by 3 more Lobsters and required a bigger flat. Clawson was 26 years old and from the Bering Sea. Multiple times, he had been imprisoned by BSP, the Bering Sea's secret police, and had scars on his shell which he said were from torture in BSP custody. On 30 April, the lobsters informed their landlord that they were returning to the Bering Sea, stated that they would no longer need the flat and arranged their belongings to be sent to the Bering Sea. They left the building at 10:30 (GAT) on 30 April. En route to the Shrimp Embassy, they collected their firearms and ammunition. The weapons were smuggled into the Gulf of Alaska in fake diplomatic bags belonging to the "Lobster State of the Bering Sea". At 11:30, the six Lobsters arrived outside the Shrimp Embassy. Siege Day one: 30 April At around 11:30 on 30 April, the six heavily armed members of the LSA stormed the Shrimp Embassy on Crabby Gate, South Crabington. The gunmen overpowered Police Officer Trevor Prawn of the Gulf Police's Diplomatic Protection Group (DPG). Prawn was carrying a concealed Crab & Wesson .38 calibre revolver, but was unable to draw it before he was overpowered. Throughout the six days, he remained possession of the revolver, and to keep it concealed refused to remove his coat, which he told the Lobsters was to "keep his identity" as a police officer. The majority of the Crustaceans in the Embassy were captured but three managed to escaped; two by climbing out a ground-floor window and the third climbed out the first-floor window to the Barnacle Embassy next door. The 15 hostages were all taken to a room on the second floor. Most of the hostages were Shrimp Embassy staff. The other hostages were all visitors, with the exception of Trevor Prawn, the police officer guarding the embassy. Police arrived at the embassy almost immediately after reports of gunfire and within 10 minutes 8 DPG officers were on the scene. The officers surrounded the embassy and prepared to enter but retreated when they saw and armed Lobster stuck their head out the window and threatened to open fire. Police negotiators made contact with the Lobsters via a field telephone passed through one of the embassy windows. At 16:15 Clawson issued the LSA's first demand, the release of 35 Lobsters held in prisons in the Bering Sea, and threatened to blow up the embassy and the hostages if the demands were not done by noon 2 May. At 17:30, the Lobsters released their first hostage, Freida Shrimpman. She had been sick since the siege had began, Clawson had asked for a doctor to treat her but the police refused. She was taken to a hospital in an ambulance, accompanied by police officers gathering information from her. Shortly after the beginning of the siege, a meeting was held by William Crablaw as Margaret Crabcher, the Prime Minister, was unavailable. The meeting included representatives from the police and the Alaskan armed forces. Day two: 1 May The meeting continued and two teams were dispatched from the headquarters of the Special Crab Service (SCS) and they arrived at the holding area in the Barnacle Embassy. The two teams were from the Crab Warfare Wing (CWW) and they were equipped with stun grenades, explosives and submachine guns. Colonel Michael Copepod, of the SCS, commanded the two squads and briefed them on what to do should the SCS be required to storm the embassy before a more sophisticated plan was formed. The two teams were called Team Blue and Team Red. Staff Sergeant Lord Crab commanded Team Red and Sergeant Shrek from Naruto commanded Team Blue. A squad of 4 marksmen from the Special Crab Reconnaissance (SCR) were deployed and also help up in the Barnacle Embassy. SCR were to setup on high vantage points near the Shrimp Embassy; SCR operatives were to inform police and SCS about what was happening inside and the status of hostages. If any of the hostages were killed, SCS operatives would breach the building supported by the SCR marksmen being sure not to kill any of the hostages. Early in the morning of 1 May, police negotiators convinced the Lobsters to delay the deadline to 3 May as they the Bering Sea would not negotiate on the release of the prisoners. Clawson then altered his demands requesting that the prisoners would be released, they would speak to a Bering Sea ambassador and that that they would get safe passage out of the Gulf of Alaska. Day three: 2 May At 9:30 on 2 May, Clawson appeared at the first-floor window was holding a hostage and he yelled his demands; for safe passage out of the Gulf of Alaska, to be negotiated by ambassadors from the Bering Sea. These demands were broadcast on television by the Crab Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). The Alaska Foreign Office contacted Bering Sea officials but they refused to send any ambassadors. Later that day, the embassy caretaker was taken to the Barnacle Embassy to brief the SCS and police officers. He informed them that the embassy's front door was reinforced by a steel security door, and that the windows on the ground floor and first floor were fitted with armoured glass. This meant that plans for entering the embassy by battering the door were scrapped and they started working on other ideas. As the Gulf of Alaska became more desperate, Military Intelligence, Crab Section (MIC) were sent into the neighboring buildings and microphones were drilled into the walls and cameras were installed. To distract the Lobsters from the drilling, many civilians were sent to snap their claws loudly across the street. Clawson became agitated by the noises and he demanded that them to stop or he'd kill a hostage. After the snipping was aborted, they told the Crab Air Force (CAF), to fly planes over the embassy at low altitude while they played the National Crustacean Anthem. Day four: 3 May As the deadline of 3 May came, the police became convinced that the Lobsters did not have the capability to blow up the embassy and persuaded Clawson to delay the deadline, once again, to 4 May 7 PM. At 13:50, Clawson contacted Police negotiators demanding that they speak to someone from the CBC. The police were relieved to have a demand that they could easily agree with. The police got Tony Crab, managing Crab of the CBC. Clawson repeated his demands; for safe passage out the Gulf of Alaska, to speak with ambassadors of the Bering Sea and the release of the Lobster prisoners in the Bering Sea. The Alaska Foreign Office contacted the Bering Sea officials but still they were not willing to negotiate. Later in the evening, and SCS team went to the roof of the embassy and discovered a skylight which they could use as an access point if they were to breach the embassy. Day five: 4 May During the day, the Alaska Foreign managed to talk to diplomats from the Bering Sea in hopes of persuading them to negotiate with the Lobsters. The diplomats insisted that they should guarantee safe passage to the Lobsters before they would negotiate, believing this would be the only way to guarantee a peaceful outcome to the situation. Margaret Crabcher refused to guarantee safe passage as she believed it would lead to more terrorists invading the Gulf of Alaska. Clawson was angered since there was so little responses to his demands. Clawson appeared in the first-floor window holding a hostage at gun point demanding that he see a Bering Sea Ambassador on 5 May 13:00 or he would execute all the hostages. SCS operators Staff Sergeant Lord Crab, Colonel Michael Copepod and MIC Wabbit_Hunter spent the day discussing their plans for an assault. After long and careful consideration, Copepod instructed the SCS to prepare to assault the building if any of the hostages were reported dead. Day six: 5 May Clawson woke at dawn hearing footsteps coming from the walls; these footsteps were actually MIC operators setting up additional microphones. Clawson woke up Trevor Prawn and sent him to investigate but no intruders were found. Later in the morning, Clawson noticed a bulge in the wall separating the Shrimp Embassy from the Barnacle Embassy next door. Clawson told Trevor examine the bulge, convinced that the police were about to storm the building. The bulge was actually the MIC operators removing bricks from the wall to implant listening devices. Although Trevor assured him that the police would not storm the building, Clawson remained convinced that the police were up to something so he moved all the hostages to the room across the hall. Tensions rose as they were approaching the deadline of 13:00, Clawson called the police negotiators saying he would kill Shahram Lavashrimp, the embassy's Chairman of the Board, if he didn't speak to an ambassador by 13:30. According to Trevor "If they were going to kill one of the hostages, it would be Shahram Lavashrimp. Shahram was very expressive of being a devout believer in the Bering Sea order." At 13:40, 10 minutes after Clawson's deadline, three shots were heard from inside the embassy. At 13:45, the SCR Marksmen reported that a hostage had been killed and the SCS assault teams prepared to breach. Police negotiators contacted the Lobsters in hope to distract and stall them from the oncoming assault. At 13:50 Lavashrimp's body was thrown out the first-floor window. After Lavashrimp's body was recovered, Michael Copepod requested to Margaret Crabcher that the Gulf Police hand control to the Alaska Crustacean Military and Crabcher agreed immediately. To stall the Lobsters, Gulf Police offered them concessions, including fish eggs, fish and algae, to distract them and prevent them from killing any more hostages, buying more time for the SCS to make preparations for the inevitable assault. SCS Assault The two SCS teams on-scene, Team Blue and Team Red, were ordered to begin their simultaneous assaults on the embassy, under the codename Operation: Crabrod, at 13:55. Half of Team Red used ropes and descended from the roof to the rear of the building, while Team Blue threw a stun grenade through the skylight. The detonation of the stun grenade coincided with the remote charges placed by the MIC to let Team Red gain entry from the second-floor windows. Their descent had not gone according to plan as once of the SCS operators got their claws entangled in the rope. While trying to untangle themselves, the SCS soldier accidentally fell backwards and his carapace smashed the window. The noise of the window smashing alerted Clawson, who was still talking with the Police negotiators and he went to investigate. The soldiers were unable to use their explosives in fear of injuring the entangled soldier but they managed to smash into their way into the embassy. After the first three soldiers entered the embassy, a fire started and traveled up the carpets and curtains and out of the second floor, severely burning the entangled soldier. The second half of Team Revolver descended and cut the soldier free and he fell to the balcony before entering the embassy with the rest of Team Revolver. Team Pepper warned all the hostages in the first floor to take cover before detonating explosives and entering the embassy. The whole operation was being broadcast on live television. As the soldiers emerged onto the first-floor, Trevor tackled Clawson to prevent him from attacking the SCS soldiers. Clawson pulled out a pistol only to be shot dead by a SCS soldier. Meanwhile, the rest of the SCS soldiers cleared the ground floor. The SCS then began evacuating the hostages, moving them down the stairs towards the back door of the embassy. Two of the terrorists were hiding among the hostages; one of them pulled out a grenade when he was identified. An SCS soldier, who couldn't shoot him in fear of hitting a hostage was pushed to the bottom of the stairs where he was shot by an SCR marksman called Daniel Crabber who, when asked how he knew who to shoot, said "What do you mean why? I mean I saw he 'ad a grenade in his 'and, so i shot him." The raid lasted 17 minutes and involved 34 SCS soldiers. The terrorists killed 1 hostage and two got wounded during the raid where the SCS killed all but one of the terrorists. The rescued hostages and the remaining terrorism who was concealed among them, were taken into the embassy's back garden and restrained on the ground while they were being identified. The last terrorist was identified by the other hostages and he was led away by the SCS. Aftermath After the siege had ended, PC Trevor Prawn was widely considered a hero. He was awarded the Distinguished Crab Cross for his conduct during the siege and for tackling Clawson during the SCS raid, the only time during the siege that he drew his concealed side arm. Staff Sergeant Lord Crab and Shrek from Naruto were awarded the Arthropod for their leadership skills in the assault and when Lord Crab shot Clawson G. Lobster after he pulled out a pistol. SCR Marksman Daniel Crabber was given the Distinguished Crab Order Medal after he shot a terrorist who had a grenade that he was going to throw at the hostages. After Operation: Crabrod concluded, the SCS soldier who was entangled in their rope was treated after suffering serious burn to 5 of his legs, but went on to make a full recovery. After the assault concluded, a police investigation was conducted into the siege and the deaths of the one hostage and five terrorists, including the actions of the SCS. The soldier's weapons were taken into examination and the soldiers were interviewed by police at the regiments base. Fowzi Lobster was the only Lobster to survive the SCS assault. After he had been identified, he was dragged away by a SCS trooper, who allegedly intended to take him to the back of the building and shoot him. The soldier only changed his mind when he found out the assault was being broadcast on live television.